How Much Damage Have Central Bankers Done? A Lot.
This columnist’s book selections highlight the wreckage of ultra-loose monetary policy.
Military enthusiasts in 2008 reenacting the storming of the barricades during the 1848 revolution in Berlin.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty Images EuropeWhat’s Christmas without a fight about money, a lunch-table villain and a really good book? For those who haven’t yet finished their present shopping I have some suggestions that will give you all three in one happy package.
First up, someone must have a copy of You Always Hurt the One You Love: Central Bankers and the Murder of Capitalism by Bernard Connolly. You might not need much more than the title to get your row going. But it’s worth reading on to nail down exactly why central bankers are almost entirely responsible for asset bubbles “unsupported by realistic expectations of future productivity,” along with recent financial crises and disruptive wealth inequality. Their mistakes have been more obvious than usual in the last few years – their failure to recognize that fast-rising money supply would, with the usual 12- to 18-month lag, lead to inflation looks increasingly bizarre to even non-experts, for example.